What kind of camera does the Samsung Galaxy A5 have? Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) - Specifications. SAR level refers to the amount of electromagnetic radiation absorbed by the human body while using a mobile device.

On the eve of the new year 2016, Samsung Electronics officially announced an updated version of one of its flagships or state-priced models - the A5 model. The smartphone is already selling quite successfully in China, and the start of European sales is planned for the first quarter of 2016.

Main differences from the previous version

So what is the difference between the updated Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) from its predecessor Samsung Galaxy A5 (2014) ? The answer is simple: first of all – dimensions. The phone became a little larger, wider and thicker (145/71/7.3 mm with a weight of 155 grams), received a more powerful and faster Exynos 7580 processor with eight cores and a more capacious (2900 mAh) battery, as well as a fast recharging.

In addition, it was equipped with a fingerprint scanner and a more advanced version of Android OS. Although it is still the same “lollipop”, but the version is already 5.1.1, on top of which the branded Touch Wiz shell is installed. When there will be an official update to the latest Android 6.0 firmware is not yet known, however, this is in the immediate plans of Korean manufacturers.

Display and appearance

The Koreans remained true to themselves in the general style - the same sharp edges, straight lines, and the signature button. Body: the combination of metal and glass is a pleasant surprise. Although maybe they claim their own vision of beauty?

New display Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) made using Super AMOLED technology and has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels with a density of 424ppi, which is almost double that of its predecessor. At the same time, its diagonal increased by only 0.2 inches.

What was and what appeared

The new version of A5 includes the ability to make secure mobile payments in the Samsung Pay system using NFC or MST using a fingerprint scanner. It is also possible to use one of the SIM card inputs as a slot for MicroSD cards up to 128 GB.

As before, the smartphone uses Nano SIM cards, there is: an accelerometer, orientation, ambient light and proximity sensors, as well as a compass and a Hall sensor. All audio and video formats are supported, and the cameras now have optical image stabilization.

What are we waiting for and what will we get?

The smartphone works in all types of networks and supports all major communication standards. It’s difficult to say which of the other devices of a similar class the A5 will compete with; we can only assume that it will be Meizu MX5 or Xiaomi Mi 4.

How popular this new gadget will be in Europe is still a mystery, but now we can confidently predict that it will take its rightful place in the Samsung Galaxy line.

Let's look at the shortcomings of the latest series of Korean smartphones

Samsung has released flagship analogues at a low price and without compromise! These phones break stereotypes!” - the authors of reviews of the new Galaxy series (A3, A5, A7) 2016, especially close to the manufacturer, are choking with delight. Come on! We bring you an honest review of the shortcomings of the latest Korean smartphones.

DISADVANTAGES THAT ARE WRITTEN ABOUT IN REVIEWS AND TESTS

Combined slot for a second SIM card and memory card

It’s hard to say who first came up with this “brilliant” idea, but it’s the one that’s been implemented in the new Samsung devices. You have to choose: either a second SIM card or extended memory. The choice sometimes turns out to be painful, they write in a review on Hi-tech.mail.ru, since the built-in memory in A-series smartphones is only 16 GB, a good third of which goes to the operating system. So if you want to be always in touch and not lose money by varying SIM cards, forget about “heavy” games and large files. So, the first compromise already exists.

Photo: i.ytimg.com

Low battery capacity

In this sense, Samsung met users halfway: according to information Hi-tech.mail.ru, the top-end Galaxy A7 version of 2015 had a 2600 mAh battery installed, now they have a 3300 mAh battery. The A3 and A5 have more modest capabilities: 2300 and 2900 mAh, respectively. As they write on 4pda.ru, if you don’t overload the Galaxy A5, you can count on a full day of work: 15-20 minutes of telephone conversations, the same amount of correspondence via SMS and instant messengers, 2.5-3 hours of surfing the Internet and sitting on social networks, taking a couple of dozen photos and two or three videos. In the PCMark battery life test, the smartphone lasted almost twelve hours. Is this enough? Who cares. But games “eat up” the battery quickly: in an hour at half the screen brightness, the battery drains by 32%.

Ambiguous ergonomics

Photo: i.ytimg.com

From a design point of view, the new series was conceived very well. The metal shell was supposed to give reliability, glass - grace. What ended up happening was something not entirely logical: in a review of S4galaxy.ru It is noted that after treating the surface of the device with a matte composition, the body looks like it is made of plastic. The only advantage of this solution is that scratches remain on the body, but they are difficult to detect unless you look closely. Having considerably spoiled the “metallic” appearance, the developers still did not achieve their goal: as stated in the test on Itc.ua, the phone is slippery and often tries to slip out of your hands, especially in the cold (we are talking about the A3, but the “older comrades” also suffer from the same thing). In this case, a fall onto a hard surface, according to the portal’s experts 4pda.ru, will be fatal for a smartphone: cracks on the glass cannot be avoided. So we buy the cover right away and don’t skimp on it.

Galaxy A7, in turn, turned out to be bulky, according to Hi-tech.mail.ru. It is a whole millimeter thicker and immediately 30 grams heavier than its predecessor. At the same time, the volume button has become thinner and is now not so easy to hit.

Small number of preset photo modes

Despite the fact that the new line of smartphones is positioned as an almost complete analogue of the S-series, the camera in, say, the Galaxy A5 is significantly inferior to the one installed in the Galaxy S6. 13 megapixels versus 16, maximum resolution 1080p versus QHD, and so on - there is no point in listing everything, the cameras are not even close. But this is not so bad, because the prices of the devices are completely different. It’s bad that in Galaxy A, as noted on the portal 4pda.ru, a total of 6 photo modes: “Auto”, “Pro”, “Panorama”, “Continuous shooting”, HDR, “Night”. Few? Then you'll have to fork out some cash - welcome to the Galaxy Apps online store. Experts also note other problems with the camera of new Samsung devices: if during the day the smartphone takes good photographs, the pictures are clear, the automation in most cases accurately determines the white balance, then in the evening optical stabilization begins to be lacking, the frames often turn out blurry. You have to either hold the gadget super tightly in your hands, or use the “night” mode. On Itc.ua There are mentions of difficulty autofocusing during macro photography.

DISADVANTAGES WHICH ARE WRITTEN ABOUT IN THE REVIEWS

No signal for missed events

Photo: i.computer-bild.de

Users of Galaxy A smartphones in 2016 are especially infuriated by this fact: “Inserting a cheap LED into a device for 40 thousand - is it really difficult?” Indeed, in order to check whether a letter has arrived or track missed calls, you have to wake the phone from sleep mode (and this is not always and not everywhere convenient).

Communication failures in places with weak signals

Judging by the reviews, the smartphone does not always switch from 4G to 3G in a timely manner in places with poor signal reception. To download a large file or load a “heavy” page on the Internet, sometimes you have to wait until the device stops freezing and changes mode.

Rough flash operation

It is clear that the flash in a smartphone is not intended for any great achievements in the field of photography, but the LED in Galaxy A, according to gadget owners, behaves very harshly: it simply overexposes all objects within a meter radius. You have to use flash in small rooms carefully, carefully choosing the angle for shooting.

Is it really that bad?

Photo: d.christiantoday.com

The new line of smartphones really resembles flagship ones - in appearance, case materials, and functionality. By and large, the devices have everything that the “older” models have, but on a somewhat limited scale. There is a quad-core processor in the Galaxy A3 and 8-core processors in the A5 and A7, excellent performance, the ability to work in 4G LTE (and the smartphone’s network rating is excellent, there are practically no complaints about it). The A5 and A7 support a fingerprint scanner. High contrast screen with excellent color reproduction. It would take a long time to list the advantages of the Galaxy A (2016) smartphones, but the disadvantages we described still significantly limit the range of users. It makes sense to buy such models if you want to have something similar to flagships. But you need to understand that these will really be “sort of” flagships. There is nothing for perfectionists to catch here.

The Galaxy A series can be considered unique not only for Samsung, but also for the Android smartphone market in general. Typically, manufacturers try to cram more powerful hardware into mid-priced smartphones, and their design is made according to the residual principle. The first generation of Galaxy A devices had exactly the opposite: the appearance was interesting, but the hardware let us down. Technically weak smartphones made of metal and glass managed to receive a lot of negative reviews from the press, and yet these devices were popular. This is understandable and even expected: there are not many smartphones with an interesting design for 20-25 thousand rubles; “fashionistas” who don’t want to spend money on a flagship model don’t have much to choose from.

Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) in pink - official photo. White, black and gold colors will also be available for new products.

Now the Galaxy A family has been updated, and the leitmotif of this “update” was to improve the technical characteristics of the devices, since the capabilities of previous gadgets did not even reach the unspoken middle-class standards. The new generation has solved this problem - at least “on paper” the characteristics of the Galaxy A3 and A5 look very good. What are they like in practice? We will answer this question after thorough testing of both devices. It is noteworthy that the previous A3 and A5 remain on sale along with the new ones, while the older Galaxy A7 of 2016 pushed its parent off the shelves. We'll talk about it in detail another time.

⇡ Technical specifications

⇡ Appearance and ergonomics

Of course, Samsung fans will appreciate the fact that the current Galaxy A series smartphones are very similar to the flagship Galaxy S6. This was achieved through the use of similar body proportions, close corner radii and identical color schemes for both flagships and mid-rangers. Indeed, it’s easy to confuse the 2016 Galaxy A5 and the Galaxy S6 with each other, even from a short distance.

However, what the new product has in common with the flagship model is the use of tempered Corning Gorilla Glass 4 on the rear panel. The previous generation Galaxy A had a metal back, while the new one has a glass back. This is, perhaps, more beautiful, and Gorilla Glass 4, as we know from experience with other smartphones, is resistant to minor damage and scratches: you can carry devices in the same pocket with keys and coins. But you shouldn’t drop them - the glass will most likely break after the first fall. This is perhaps the main and only disadvantage of using glass instead of metal. By the way, the front panel of the devices is also covered with the same glass - with an oleophobic coating and an anti-glare filter.

The Galaxy A3 and A5 themselves are very similar to each other. The main difference, of course, is the dimensions. The “Five” turned out to be larger: its display is half an inch larger, which could not but affect its weight - it weighs 155 grams, while the “three-ruble” weighs only 132 grams. To be honest, my hands don’t get tired of both smartphones - their weight is acceptable. The younger model turned out to be thinner - 6.9 versus 7.3 mm. In general, the Samsung Galaxy A3 is a compact smartphone that is convenient to use with one hand; To reach all four corners of the A5 display, you will have to hold the device in your hand, like most modern Android gadgets.

TFT IPS- High quality liquid crystal matrix. It has wide viewing angles, one of the best indicators of color rendering quality and contrast among all those used in the production of displays for portable equipment.
Super AMOLED- if a regular AMOLED screen uses several layers, between which there is an air gap, then in Super AMOLED there is only one such touch layer without air gaps. This allows you to achieve greater screen brightness with the same power consumption.
Super AMOLED HD- differs from Super AMOLED in its higher resolution, thanks to which you can achieve 1280x720 pixels on a mobile phone screen.
Super AMOLED plus- this is a new generation of Super AMOLED displays, differs from the previous one by using a larger number of subpixels in a conventional RGB matrix. The new displays are 18% thinner and brighter than displays made using the old PenTile technology.
AMOLED- an improved version of OLED technology. The main advantages of the technology are significantly reduced power consumption, the ability to display a larger color gamut, reduced thickness and the ability of the display to bend slightly without the risk of breaking.
Retina-high pixel density display designed specifically for Apple technology. The pixel density of Retina displays is such that individual pixels are indistinguishable to the eye at a normal distance from the screen. This ensures the highest image detail and significantly improves the overall viewing experience.
Super Retina HD- the display is made using OLED technology. The pixel density is 458 PPI, the contrast reaches 1,000,000:1. The display has a wide color gamut and unsurpassed color accuracy. Pixels in the corners of the display are smoothed at the sub-pixel level, so edges are not distorted and appear smooth. The Super Retina HD reinforcing layer is 50% thicker. It will be harder to break the screen.
Super LCD is the next generation of LCD technology, it is characterized by improved characteristics compared to earlier LCD displays. The screens not only have wide viewing angles and better color reproduction, but also lower power consumption.
TFT- A common type of liquid crystal display. Using an active matrix controlled by thin-film transistors, it is possible to significantly increase the performance of the display, as well as the contrast and clarity of the image.
OLED- organic electroluminescent display. It consists of a special thin-film polymer that emits light when exposed to an electric field. This type of display has a large reserve of brightness and consumes very little energy.

Samsung Galaxy A5 2016, like the A3, received an update after its success in 2015, becoming a little more productive and improving its visual appeal. The screen is larger, the resolution is higher, the battery is larger, but the changes do not end there.

Quick jump:

Appearance and ergonomics

The shape of the smartphone remains the same, but the appearance has changed slightly compared to last year's model. The 2016 version is no longer all metal, but that's a good thing. The device is covered with glass on both sides, the edges are framed by a metal frame. The design is presented in three variations: black sapphire, dazzling platinum and white pearl.

The camera lens body continues to protrude slightly above the body of the smartphone - not critical, but there will be people who absolutely do not like it. All buttons and slots are in the usual places; no radical external changes were found that cast doubt that this is a Samsung product.

The smartphone has become a little heavier – up to 155 grams. The hand already pulls a little, but it is a pleasant heaviness, and not the feeling of a brick in the palm. Dimensions are determined by a 5.2-inch display. Thanks to the rounded edges, the phone fits well in the palm of your hand, making it quite possible to operate it with one hand.

Video: unpacking a smartphone

Display

As noted above, the physical size of the display is 5.2 inches. Along with the size, not only the resolution has increased (up to 1920x1080), but also the density, so the screen has definitely become better.

There is no such problem with “loose” fonts as in the Galaxy A3, so perfectionists can safely examine the display through a magnifying glass – the picture will remain clear.

The smartphone tracks the user's gaze and does not turn off while the user is looking at the display. There are traditionally four color rendering modes, which allows you to adjust color saturation to suit your needs. Oleophobic coating helps to quickly clean the display from dirt. But another coating is missing - anti-reflective. True, this becomes noticeable only at large viewing angles.

Video: Galaxy A5 2016 review

Interface

The smartphone runs Android 5.1 Lollipop with the TouchWiz shell, which is becoming more and more pleasant in appearance. The lock screen shows the time, weather and recent notifications. It quickly launches the Phone and Camera applications. Another way to launch the camera is to double-press the Home button, which has a built-in fingerprint scanner - new to the A-series.

The notification panel has a familiar TouchWiz look: quick settings, brightness level, notifications from active applications. The keyboard and dial window are comfortable and functional - typical Samsung.

Cameras

The resolutions of the main and front cameras remained at the same level - 5 and 13 megapixels, respectively. But if the camera on the front panel remained completely unchanged, maintaining good quality of pictures and videos, then the main one acquired several improvements. In particular, a Pro mode has appeared, which allows you to set the ISO value, adjust white balance and exposure.

The pictures turn out to be detailed and have high-quality color rendition, but there is an important condition - the lighting must be good. With a certain camera setup, there is no shame in printing photos, not to mention posting them on social networks.

Video: example of camera recording

Specifications

The characteristics are not top-end, but decent for the stated price of the device. The eight-core (1.6 GHz) Exynos 7580 processor is supported by a Mali-T720 graphics accelerator. The amount of RAM is 2 GB, internal memory is 16 GB, there is support for microSD.

The hardware provides fast operation without lags or freezes when flipping through work screens or launching applications. Online videos and FullHD videos from the smartphone’s memory are loaded without unnecessary delays.

There is support for a second SIM card, provided that the user refuses to expand the memory by installing microSD, since one slot is universal - for a SIM card and a memory card.

The non-removable 2900 mAh battery allows you to count on a day of work with a light load: a dozen photos, a couple of videos, 2-3 hours of web surfing, 15-20 minutes of calls and SMS communications. Only games eat up the charge quickly - about 32% per hour. But the device supports fast charging, which it cannot boast of